Cerity Partners LLC Buys 2,093 Shares of Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,710 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,093 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Hormel Foods were worth $1,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hormel Foods by 12.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 452,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,014,000 after buying an additional 48,657 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 313,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,838,000 after purchasing an additional 116,304 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,374,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,270 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 180.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 89,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,737,000 after purchasing an additional 57,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Hormel Foods by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 71,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 9,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRL has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Hormel Foods in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Hormel Foods from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Hormel Foods from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.86.

Hormel Foods Stock Performance

NYSE HRL opened at $29.15 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.96. Hormel Foods Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.59 and a 1 year high of $33.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.33.

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Hormel Foods had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hormel Foods Corporation will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Hormel Foods Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 14th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Hormel Foods’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Hormel Foods Profile

Hormel Foods Corporation develops, processes, and distributes various meat, nuts, and other food products to retail, foodservice, deli, and commercial customers in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail, Foodservice, and International segments. The company provides various perishable products that include fresh meats, frozen items, refrigerated meal solutions, sausages, hams, guacamoles, and bacons; and shelf-stable products comprising canned luncheon meats, nut butters, snack nuts, chili, shelf-stable microwaveable meals, hash, stews, tortillas, salsas, tortilla chips, nutritional food supplements, and others.